一位朋友偶然讲起一件事，有如一篇小小说，听者动容。
A friend of mine incidentally related to me the following occurrence which, like a little story, is very touching:
在一片新开发的林子里，一位衣着素色的女人，独自行走在弯曲的小径上，径直地向着林子里的一棵树。
In a newly opened-up forest, a quietly dressed woman walked all by herself on a winding path straight towards one of the trees.
这里许多树大小参差不一，有的移植不久，不过都长得很快。
There were many trees of varying sizes, and some had been recently transplanted, but all of them grew fast.
在一个时期内，都挺直有神。
For a certain period of time, they all looked straight and impressive with light green young leaves.
新生的树叶嫩绿有生机。
Evidently, some people had been put in charge of these memorial trees.
当然，有人专门护理这些纪念树。
As she had been doing for we don't know how many years, the woman stood silently beside the tree with a bunch of fresh flowers in her hand.
不知多少年，这个女人总是带着一束鲜花默默地置于树根旁，然后仰起头来，对着树身凝视，翁动着她独有的小小嘴唇，既像独语，又像倾诉。
She raised her head to fix her eyes on the tree and kept moving her unique small lips as if she were soliloquizing or sharing her innermost feelings with the tree.
她退后一步，打量她这棵树高了多少，细心地除去树下斑斑驳驳的落叶，向这棵移植多年的树倾身拥抱，亲了一下，轻轻摩树皮的皱纹，如同面对一个有生命的躲体。
She stepped backwards to observe its growth in height and softly removed the mottled fallen leaves under it.
不久，她依依不舍地转身离去，消失在暮色渐浓的秋天最后一抹余晖里。
She bent forward to hug and kiss the tree that had been transplanted many years before, and gently stroked its wrinkled bark as if it were something alive.
一阵秋风吹过，树叶沙沙地响动，仿佛隐秘的私语。
Then she reluctantly turned round and left, vanishing into the last rays of an autumn day in the deepening dusk.
女人顿时回过身来，惟有她才能听懂私语的全部含意。
At a sudden gust of the autumn wind, the tree rustled like it was whispering secretly and the woman, being the only person capable of understanding the full implications of the whisper, immediately turned round.
于是喃喃自语向大树告诉。
Then, after mumbling a few words to the tree, she said goodbye tearfully and started on her way home.
含着泪，走向她的归途。
As the years went by, the woman, a regular solitary visitor on the path, became older and older.
年复一年，小径上的女人孤独的背影，显得越来越苍老了。
Several years later, the tree became even taller and was crowned with verdant foliage.
若十年后，这棵树长得更高大了，树冠缀满葱笼的树叶。
It stood erect and became more and more luxuriantly green in the wind.
它屹立在这片土地上，风吹得越发蘑郁葱绿。
It looked up at the firmament to watch the motions of the sun, moon and stars and thus merged itself with Mother Nature.
它仰头看天，追随日月星辰的运动，然亲密无间连成一片。
Another period of time afterwards, there appeared close to it a newly transplanted small tree.
又过了些时候，靠近大树旁出现了一棵新移植的小树。
It was robust and quiet.
小树很壮硕，也很安静。
With the passage of time, the roots of the two trees had become twined together.
随着岁月递增，年长日久，大树和小树埋在泥土下的根茎错节，相互交织。
Under each of the two trees was buried a small wooden casket.
两棵树下各埋着一个木盒，木盒里的骨灰，逐渐化为树根下的有机肥，融入树身内。
The ashes in the caskets had gradually turned into organic fertilizer passing into the trees' trunks by way of the roots.
两位老人先后选择了同一种回归自然的方式，让生命延续在大自然的怀抱中，每一片嫩叶都孕含着绿色的希望。
The two elderly persons had successively chosen the same way of returning to nature so as to have life prolonged in the bosom of nature.
这是真的，是一首歌颂树葬的诗篇。
Each tender leaf in the trees was pregnant with green hope.
不用问他们是谁，是谁，就是谁。
It's a true story.